


Directional Convergence

by cherrybina



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-15
Updated: 2009-11-15
Packaged: 2017-10-02 20:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrybina/pseuds/cherrybina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin tutors Arthur in Calculus, so naturally Arthur climbs through Merlin's window so they can make out. Modern AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Directional Convergence

The sound is so quiet that at first he hardly notices — Merlin's subconscious barely registers it as anything worthy of attention over the clacking sounds his fingers make on his keyboard and the usual noises outside that come muffled through the closed window. Merlin absently rubs a hand over the back of his neck and notices it's past 1 am. It's a school night, and he knows that if he stays up much longer, he's going to feel like absolute rubbish the next day, so he reluctantly closes out of everything and shuts his computer down.

The room is dark now that the glow from the monitor is gone, with the only light coming through the window from the streetlamps casting uneven patches of shadow across the floor. Merlin hears the sound again, louder this time — a steady tapping coming from outside, and he cocks his head and listens.

_Tap tap. Tap tap._

Merlin pushes his chair back from the desk and stands up. It hasn't yet occurred to him to be scared — he's expecting to find nothing more sinister than a tree branch caught in the wind, but as he turns to the window, a dark shape catches his eye and he startles in genuine fright.

It takes his brain a few moments to catch up and put all the pieces together in a way that makes sense. When he realises what he's seeing, his fear turns to shock: Arthur Pendragon, standing on the roof of the garage peering into Merlin's bedroom.

He takes a few deep breaths in an attempt to regain his composure before pulling the window open with shaky arms.

"Arthur!" Merlin hisses, his heart still pounding in his chest, adrenaline pumping through his veins. "What are you doing here?"

Arthur flashes a crooked grin, his teeth glinting in the hazy glow of the streetlamps. "Are you gonna let me in or what?"

Merlin steps back from the window and Arthur hikes himself up, hooking one leg over the frame before sliding inside and landing on his feet. Merlin peers out the window behind him and looks down at the street below, but there is no sign of the sleek silver BMW that he knows was a 16th birthday present from Arthur's father. Arthur's not even old enough for a driver's license, but maybe it's different when you're a Pendragon, since Merlin sees Arthur behind the wheel all over town.

"How did you get here?" Merlin whispers after pulling the window shut and turning to face Arthur.

Arthur smirks at him, cocky and self-assured. "I parked two streets over and walked the rest of the way so no one would see me."

Merlin flushes at the thought of Arthur planning this out: sneaking out of his house, driving all the way across town, climbing on top of the garage to get into Merlin's bedroom. The pounding in his chest hasn't diminished, and all he can manage is a nervous chuckle that comes out sounding more like a choking sound.

"So this is your room, huh?" Arthur peels off his jacket, tossing it casually on Merlin's desk chair and looking around.

"Um, yeah."

Merlin is suddenly very conscious of his flannel pyjama bottoms and faded cotton t-shirt. He supposes it's lucky that it's a cool night, because otherwise Arthur might have found him in nothing but his boxer shorts, and the thought of that is enough to send his head spinning wildly.

Arthur doesn't seem to be in a hurry to explain himself, and Merlin stands frozen in the middle of his room, watching as Arthur picks up a stack of DVDs from Merlin's desk and flips through them before tossing them back down and moving on to fiddle with a jar of loose change.

There's a tiny, familiar niggling that feels a little like hope in the back of Merlin's mind. It started when Arthur had flashed that ridiculous smile a few weeks earlier and asked Merlin to help tutor him in calculus. His father was going to strangle him, Arthur had said, if he ended up with bad marks. Merlin had agreed — of course he had agreed, it was _Arthur_ — and every day since they had met after school in the library to go over partial fractions and integration by parts. And yeah, Arthur is the kind of guy who seems physically unable to stop himself from flirting with anyone, but the other day when Merlin had gently pointed out that Arthur had mixed up sine and cosine yet again, Arthur had smirked as he leaned in to nudge Merlin with his shoulder, saying in a low voice that sounded so full of promise, "Well we can't all be as perfect as you, can we?" Merlin's breath had caught in his throat at the feel of Arthur's arm warm against his own, and in that moment, Merlin had allowed himself to hope.

And now — well, now Arthur is here in his bedroom, scanning Merlin's bookshelves with his head tilted to one side and Merlin is not sure what to do with this information. Merlin has never been inside of the Pendragon estate, but he's driven past it, peering through the windows of his mother's beat up car, trying to catch a glimpse of the world that exists beyond the fancy iron gates. He's is quite certain that whatever it is, Arthur's bedroom is nothing like his own, but if Arthur is unimpressed with Merlin's second hand furniture and peeling, faded wallpaper he doesn't let on.

"What are you doing here?" Merlin finally asks, repeating the question Arthur has not yet answered.

Arthur turns away from Merlin's bookshelf and digs into his pocket. "I came to give you this," he says, holding something up.

He's caught in the shadows so Merlin can't tell what it is until Arthur takes a step toward him. It's an ordinary wood pencil with a broken point, the eraser worn down to a nub.

Merlin frowns in confusion. "It's a pencil."

"It's _your_ pencil," Arthur says, his expression unreadable in the darkness. "You left it at the library today after school."

"Oh," Merlin says, dumbfounded. "You — you came here to give me back my pencil?"

Arthur steps forward into a patch of light. The corners of his mouth are curled slightly with a hint of his usual smirk and his eyes are focused on Merlin, as if daring him to challenge. "Yeah, I just thought it was only right to return it."

Merlin swallows hard as Arthur moves closer. "So you came to my house in the middle of the night and snuck into my room."

"Is that a problem?" Arthur asks, looking like he knows very well that it's not. "Because if it is, I can just go."

"No — no, it's good that you came. To give back my pencil."

Arthur tosses the pencil onto Merlin's desk where it rolls across to the edge and clatters to the floor. "What can I say?" he says as he steps into Merlin's personal space. "I just thought you probably really needed it."

Merlin closes his eyes, keeps them shut for a moment, wondering if it'll all disappear when he opens them again — if this is all just an elaborate dream born from fantasising about Arthur one too many times. But when he opens his eyes, he's not waking alone with sticky shorts; Arthur is really there in front of him, close enough to touch.

Arthur's smirk is gone, and his eyes flick back and forth over Merlin's face as if searching for something. He must see whatever it is he's looking for, because a moment later, Arthur brings his hands up and wraps them around Merlin's waist, pulling him in until their faces are just inches apart.

Merlin's heart is still pounding in his chest — it never really stopped — and his gut clenches at the combination of terror and excitement. "My mum. She's asleep just down the hall," he says, his voice hoarse.

Arthur's mouth curls up in a slow smile. "Well then we'll just have to be very quiet, won't we?"

The first press of Arthur's mouth to his own is gentle, just a chaste kiss really, but Merlin's stomach lurches anyway at the unexpected softness of Arthur's lips. Merlin brings his hands up to Arthur's neck, tentative and shaky, and Arthur just makes a pleased sound and leans in closer, kissing Merlin with more intent.

It's slow and easy at first, and when Arthur licks at Merlin's lower lip, Merlin groans and opens his mouth to let Arthur inside. They stay like that for long moments — standing in the middle of Merlin's room while they kiss, quiet except for the soft, wet sounds of their mouths.

"Wait," Arthur says with a gasp as he pulls away, and for a moment Merlin is certain that this is the end — Arthur is going to crawl back out the window and it will be like nothing ever happened, but instead he gestures to the bed. "Do you wanna sit down?"

Merlin swallows thickly and tries not to fall apart at the thought of getting into bed with Arthur. "Yeah. I think — yeah, that's good."

Merlin climbs onto on the bed and Arthur sits down beside him. It's awkward at first, the heat of the moment gone now that they've stopped kissing, but when Arthur looks at him with heavy lidded eyes, his mouth all red and swollen and pushes ever so gently on Merlin's shoulder, Merlin goes onto his back, pulling Arthur down with him.

They start out on their sides, facing each other, one of Arthur's hands fisted tight in the back of Merlin's t-shirt as they kiss. Merlin thinks this just might be the best thing he's ever felt — lying in bed with Arthur stretched hot against his body while their mouths move slow and wet against one another, but then Arthur rolls them so them so that his chest is pressing down on Merlin's and suddenly he finds himself re-evaluating the best thing ever.

The slow, leisurely pace doesn't last, and soon Arthur is pressing him down into the pillows, as they kiss and lick, jaws falling open trying to get as much as they can. Merlin runs his hands up underneath Arthur's shirt and scrapes his nails gently down along Arthur's spine as he pulls him in, biting at his lips and then smoothing his tongue over the swollen skin.

Merlin's whole body is thrumming, a sharp coil of heat growing in his lower belly, and he wants _more_ — more of Arthur's mouth, more of his skin, more of things he doesn't really understand beyond the abstract. Arthur is still half on top of him and his hands skim up over Merlin's chest and then back down, over his stomach, before curling under the waistband of his pyjamas. Merlin hisses at the feel of Arthur's fingers resting so low on his belly, and so, so close to where he knows he wants them. Their legs are tangled together, twisted in the sheets, and when Merlin shifts and brushes his thigh high between Arthur's legs, Arthur lets out a loud groan.

Merlin pulls back, breaking the kiss. "Shhhh. You're gonna wake up my mum," he admonishes.

Arthur just laughs breathlessly against Merlin's mouth. "I bet she would have a fit if she caught me in your bed in the middle of the night."

Merlin can only nod as the weight of Arthur's words sinks in. Arthur is _in his bed_, and not only that, but he doesn't seem to want to leave anytime soon. That knowledge is enough to make Merlin feel giddy with affection and desire, all rolled into one and he tugs Arthur close and licks into his mouth again, the taste of him already familiar on his tongue. Arthur trembles a little over him, seemingly fighting the urge to crawl all the way on top of Merlin, and Merlin doesn't even know what he wants to do really, only that he wants to do all of it with Arthur.

For a moment they teeter right on the edge of something else — kissing wet and filthy, their bodies tense and strung out, wanting so much more, but then Arthur pulls away with obvious effort. Merlin wants to protest, but then Arthur finds Merlin's hands and links their fingers together before burying his face in Merlin's neck. As Merlin's breathing returns to normal and some of the tension melts away, he decides that this is good, too.

Merlin has never had anyone in his bed with him before, but now he can't imagine how he managed all this time without, as Arthur's warm, heavy weight presses him into the mattress. It's ridiculously comfortable and he pulls one hand free and strokes his fingers though Arthur's hair, feeling perfectly content.

The moment can't last however, and as Merlin starts to doze off, he gives Arthur a gentle shake. "Hey, you can't fall asleep here."

Arthur groans in frustration into Merlin's neck. "I know," he says and he pulls himself up to a sitting position. Merlin is suddenly nervous again, which seems silly given the events of just a few minutes before. He pushes himself up so he's sitting beside Arthur.

"I think I should probably go," Arthur says after a few moments of awkward silence.

Merlin just nods, his eyes fixed on the bedspread, all tangled with the sheets, but then Arthur scoots closer and hooks his finger underneath Merlin's chin, tilting it up, his thumb grazing gently over Merlin's cheek. They stay like that for another quiet moment, and the awkwardness melts away until it's warm and easy between them.

Merlin follows Arthur off the bed and watches as he pulls on his jacket. Arthur's face is flushed pink, his lips still all puffy and his hair sticking up in every direction. Merlin is quite certain that Arthur has never looked better and he realises he's not ready to say goodbye.

"So, uh. Thanks for bringing me my pencil."

Arthur's face lights up with a smug grin that shows all his crooked teeth. "Somehow I knew it was _exactly_ what you needed."

Merlin can't help but smile at that, too giddy to muster even a little indignation.

Merlin stands by the window as Arthur crawls out and hops down onto the roof of the garage. Arthur's face is just level with the window and before he climbs down to the ground, he turns to face Merlin.

"I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Oh. Right," Merlin answers. "In class."

Arthur rolls his eyes. "No, you idiot. When I pick you up for school. Be ready at 7:30. I don't like waiting around."

Before Merlin can finish processing the words, Arthur reaches up through the window and grabs the front of Merlin's shirt, pulling him all the way down for one more kiss. It's sweet and earnest, and makes Merlin's chest clench up with something he doesn't really understand, but he knows he wants more of it, whatever it is.

Merlin stays at the window watching as Arthur disappears around the corner. He strains his ears, trying to hear the sound of his car two blocks away, but either it's too far, or the brand new engine is too quiet, and he finally gives up and pulls the window closed.

When he crawls into bed, the sheets are still warm, and he buries his head in the pillows that still smell like Arthur and closes his eyes, waiting for tomorrow.


End file.
